Cup nightmare returns to haunt India

BANGALORE: It appeared a near-perfectreplay of what happened at Jo Burg in the World Cup final. The first over fromAshish Nehra not Zaheer Khan at the Chinnaswamy stadium here cost 15 runs.The demolition man Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden then set themood and brought the memories back before Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting beltedanother unbeaten ton studded with the same number of seven sixes that set thestands alight at the Wanderers. And the classy Damien Martyn produced anothercameo, remaining unbeaten on 66 from 50 balls. The Aussies finishedat 347 for two, a dozen short of the winning score, 359/2 they posted atJohannesburg and the Indians it appeared were in line for another hiding.But the Indians in the TVS Cup Tri-Series tie on Wednesday displayedthe desired pluck to make a match of it and spearheaded by the little masterSachin Tendulkar, who had failed in final of the mega event in South Africa,made a match of it. The Indian maestro and the dashing Sehwag put on 103 runsfor the first wicket to keep the Indians in the hunt.Tendulkar wasall poise and flair. He cut and drove the Aussie seamers Brad Williams,Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel with elan. The early loss of the in-form V V S Laxmanafter Sehwag was castled by Ian Harvey failed to put the brakes on Tendulkar. Inthe company of skipper Sourav Ganguly, playing his first game after the thighsurgery, Tendulkar maintained the required seven plus run-rate. Amatch on, it was before Harvey accounted for Tendulkar. And after his fall, 11short of century, the Indians despite bold efforts from Sourav Ganguly (24) andRahul Dravid (27) lost their way and fell a good 61-runs short of the target.Tendulkar’s game effort from 91 balls contained dozen boundaries besides asolitary six. Earlier, Gilchrist and Hayden provided the Aussies theidentical platform recording a 119 partnership before skipper Ricky Ponting andDamien Martyn effortlessly pressed on the pedal. Gilchrist who missed out on amilestone at the Wanderers slammed a superb century and Ponting’s ton madesure that Australia held a whiphand. It was not exactly what thedoctor ordered for Nehra, back after the injury he sustained at the World Cup,Nehra found himself at the recieving end, Gilchrist smacking the lefthandedIndian paceman at will and Zaheer too performed below par and this made the taskof the two Aussie openers simple. Gilchrist maintained a centpercent strike-rate while Hayden too joined the party thumping Zaheer and Kumbletwice to the midwicket fence. The leftarm spinner Murali Karthikapart, none of the seven Indian bowlers employed by Indian skipper SouravGanguly made an impression on Gilchrist.:A Gilchrist c Zaheer b Kumble 111, M Hayden run out 44, R Ponting not out 108, DMartyn not out 61. Extras (b-1, lb-9, w-12, nb-1) 23. Total (for two wkts in 50overs) 347 Fall of Wickets: 1-119, 2-198. Bowling: Nehra 10-0-80-0,Zaheer 10-0-67-0, Kumble 9-0-60-1, Sehwag 5-0-36-0, Kartik 10-0-51-0, Ganguly2-0-10-0, Yuvraj 4-0-33-0. (Scoreboard incomplete)Complete Scorecard